from 3/12/2010

 3 characteristics of narrative

The first characteristic of narrative is what Jerome Bruner describes as its "inherent sequentiality: a narrative is composed of a unique sequence of events, mental states, happenings involving human beings as characters or actors." Bruner's second feature of narrative is that it can be "real" or "imaginary" without loss of its power as a story. Hence the power of well crafted fiction. Bruner's third crucial feature is that "it specializes in forging of links between the exceptional and the ordinary." That which is canonical or normal and by the rules, or noncanonical, breaking or transgressing the expected norms.

My point, in case you didn't already guess, is that narrative may be as strongly present in hand crafted work as in speech and written discourse, and in some cases can be more powerful. We place far greater value as a culture on written or spoken narrative and place far greater emphasis in education on discursive narrative than on that which is expressed by hand. And so part of coming to better terms with the value of crafted work lies in understanding its narrative role in human culture. Our objects describe who we are, where we are going, and the means through which we will arrive at our greatest potential.

These photos above and below of a recent piece of furniture showing narrative qualities in conformity with what Bruner outlines above. 

You will note that this table connects normal and unusual or exceptional elements in the same work. The contrast between the natural edged top board and the more conventional mortised and tenoned base is an example. While some viewers familiar with the process of crafting such work would know the sequence of operations the work records and describes, a casual viewer is drawn to skim or read it sequentially, just as one might skim or read a published text. 

Each and every piece of hand-crafted work is autobiographical in that it records and describes the maker's character as well as his motions in making the piece. The meander cut through the center of the board is used symbolically in a fictional representation of a river or stream, while also allowing use of a traditional technique--the sliding dovetail joint. And so, I hope my regular readers will understand that story telling, the foundation of human culture, is not just something that happens through words alone, but can take place whenever the human hand goes to work on wood.

a very rough box

Box making is a narrative venture. In it, we attempt to tell our own stories concerning our own growth as well as describing our own interests and values. This box, as ugly as it may seem to some, tells a few stories that may not be immediately apparent. 

I think the appeal of this project may be three fold. One, the wood was free. Two, it involves an introduction to the use of hand tools. And three, I hope it conveys an understanding to those who want to design boxes, that it's OK to take risks.

It and the step-by-step story of making it will likely become a part of my new book, Designing Boxes.

The finish applied and waiting to be rubbed out is Tung oil. The blotchy finish may even out in time, and as pine does, it will age to a darker honey tone on its own.

Make, fix and create... Assist others in learning lifewise.

 

Trees that bear witness

My friend Elliot Washor shared an article on the Harbor Freight Fellows blog  about the trees that bore witness to the horrible devastation from our use of nuclear weapons during WWII. 

https://nautil.us/issue/104/harmony/life-always-wins-follow-me

In Hiroshima, the trees that remained standing and alive during the terrible conflagration are marked and held sacred as Hibakujumoku, the trees that suffered from the Atomic blast. Each is identified by species and with it's distance from the blast recorded in a small sign. The trees are visited and held sacred as signs of hope. 

You can find Elliot's blog post at https://www.harborfreightfellows.org/post/elliot-washors-blog-8-13-21 In it he mentions my friend Joe Youcha to whom I introduced him last week, and he mentions my new book, Wisdom  of our Hands. But the article Elliot shared about Hibakujumoku is one that I strongly urge you to read. It is a touching thing. I repeat the link: https://nautil.us/issue/104/harmony/life-always-wins-follow-me

As I often tell my students, human beings are narrative creatures. We tell our stories. Trees, also are narrative. Where there's a knot in wood, there had been a branch in life. But for the stories to be read and for the stories to be understood, an intersection between man and the forests must be established and made clear.

Make, fix and create...

Making things make sense

Yesterday I misspoke when I stated that there are 4 basic senses, as I overlooked what is commonly recognized as number 5, the sense of taste. So, forgive me, there are 5 commonly recognized physical senses, touch, sight, hearing, sense of smell and taste. There are two more just as important that I'll add.

One is the muscular sense that tells us body position, stance and physical relationship to the real world, including the sense of the earth's own gravitational pull. As we lift things or even as we stand up, or even as we sit still this sense is active. I state muscular sense as being on of the physical senses because it's important and none of the other senses actually provide the information we receive from this vital sense. 

The other of the two of the additional senses is the narrative sense,  the seventh sense through which we compare all the other senses and the feedback we receive from them to determine what makes "sense." The narrative sense involves our own internal dialog but also goes far deeper than that, even into the realm of the unconscious mind. This seventh sense, called by some the "sixth sense" and associated with psychic powers is the one that's activated and used when we learn in and from the real world. It is the one that interprets and "makes sense" of the information presented by the other senses upon which it relies.

This is exactly why learning should proceed from the concrete to the abstract, and forevermore dip deeply again and again and again into the real world by doing real things. Without the physical senses providing crucial information to the seventh sense, students are left disengaged, disinterested and potentially disruptive of education affecting themselves and others in the process. 

Fortunately, there's a relatively easy fix. Insist that schools allow the students to do real things.

Make, fix and create. Assist others in learning likewise.

the senses are key

We can call this reality based learning. When we do real things, all the various senses are engaged. Sight, hearing, olfactory and touch. You may find it interesting that Howard Gardner described various learning styles, with the suggestion that a good teacher would plan to touch upon each, thus insuring the interest of every child. There is a fifth sense, that of narrative. Narrative is comprised of the explanations offered us by others, "when things make sense" and that may or may not be felt as true or that we compose ourselves when we reconcile our senses and sensory experiences with the world that surrounds us. When we do things that are real, nothing needs be thus contrived. Comenius had put forth his argument that the senses form the core of learning:

"The ground of this business is, that sensual (sensuous) objects be rightly presented to the senses for fear that they not be received. I say, and say it again aloud, that this is the foundation of all the rest; because we can neither act nor speak wisely, unless we first rightly understand all the things which are to be done and whereof we have to speak. Now there is nothing in the understanding which was not before in the senses. And therefore to exercise the senses well about the right perceiving of the differences of things will be to lay the grounds for wisdom and all wise discourse, and all discreet actions in one's course of life, which, because it is commonly neglected in schools, and the things that are to be learned are offered to scholars without their being understood or being rightly presented to the senses, it cometh to pass that the work of teaching and learning goeth heavily onward and offereth little benefit."

Comenius was considered the father of modern education. So here we are in a huge mess of things. Due to the pandemic, kids are kept home and sequestered from normal school life. Naturally we are all looking forward to a return to what had been our previous normal, which I described in an earlier blog post.

https://wisdomofhands.blogspot.com/2006/09/hands-onhearts-engaged-at-clear-spring.html

I wish you all warmth, water with no leaky pipes, power that comes on at the switch, contact with loved ones and friends, and a return to normal, with normal meaning those days before the pandemic was allowed to wreak havoc on our communities, our way of life, and our comfort and safety in gathering together. 

Make, fix and create. Assist others in learning likewise.

On Narrative

This is a repost from a few years back. 

The first characteristic of narrative is what Jerome Bruner describes as its "inherent sequentiality: a narrative is composed of a unique sequence of events, mental states, happenings involving human beings as characters or actors." Bruner's second feature of narrative is that it can be "real" or "imaginary" without loss of its power as a story. Hence the power of well crafted fiction. Bruner's third crucial feature is that "it specializes in forging links between the exceptional and the ordinary." That which is canonical or normal and by the rules, or noncanonical, breaking or transgressing the expected norms.

My point, in case you didn't already guess, is that narrative may be as strongly present in hand crafted work as in speech and written discourse, and in some cases can be more powerful. We place far greater value as a culture on written or spoken narrative and place far greater emphasis in education on discursive narrative than on that which is expressed by hand. And so part of coming to better terms with the value of crafted work lies in understanding its narrative role in human culture. Our objects describe who we are, where we are going, and the means through which we will arrive at our greatest potential.

I offer these photos above and below of a piece of furniture showing narrative qualities in conformity with what Bruner outlines above. Dr. Bruner and I discussed whether craft work was narrative or not, with him taking one angle and me the other.

You will note that this table connects normal and unusual or exceptional elements in the same work. The contrast between the natural edged top board and the more conventional mortised and tenoned base is an example. While some viewers familiar with the process of crafting such work would know the sequence of operations the work records and describes, a casual viewer is drawn to skim or read it sequentially, just as one might skim or read a published text. Each and every piece of hand-crafted work is autobiographical in that it records and describes the maker's character as well as his motions in making the piece. The meander cut through the center of the board is used symbolically in a fictional representation of a river or stream, while also allowing use of a traditional technique--the sliding dovetail joint. And so, I hope my regular readers will understand that story telling, the foundation of human culture, is not just something that happens through words alone, but can take place whenever the human hand goes to work on wood.

Make, fix and create...

Narrative

I heard back from a reader who began using Paper Sloyd with his stuck at home kids. Matt said,

"The ‘lesson’ was a success, despite initial grumbling. Once the kids decided for themselves that they could make the project theirs by customizing things, they were all over it. Attached is a photo."

Thanks Matt, for sharing this. I've been reflecting on the narrative qualities of wood, that: "where there's a knot, there had been a branch" and how much we are like trees. They tell their stories. We tell ours, even though we often tend to take the easy way out, by using our words, rather than mind, muscle, and hands. It makes a difference how we think of narrative. Is it only human jabber, or is it connected to deeper human experience? One difference between trees and man is that trees don't jabber.

This coming week I have a podcast with the Writer's Colony in Eureka Springs, so I've also been reflecting on the difference between how-to writers, and those who dwell upon fictional subjects. This is not to disparage other forms of writing which also require effort and imagination, but we how-to writers are held to the bonds and boundaries of the real world, and in that are empowered to bring real change to real lives. A child writing a note to Nana to fill an envelope carefully crafted from paper offers a small example of our work.

Make, fix, and create. Assist others in living and learning lifewise.

the character of wood

This week my Kindergarten students finished their toy trains and were excited to take them home.

Today I have a special adult box making class for the staff of the Eureka Springs School of the Arts. Tomorrow we begin moving the Clear Spring School wood studio to its new location.

Woodworking is a bit different from other means of artistic expression. If you cut a piece of steel too short, you can heat it, and hammer it, extending its length. Lacking a forge, you can widen your weld, simply filling in the unsightly gap.  If clay is too long or too short, it can be squished or stretched to fit.

Wood's not like that. Precision is required. Woodworkers have joked about a board stretcher. No such invention has been made. Then there's the other joke. "I cut this board twice, and it's still too short."

And so there are certain characteristics inherent in the wood. Those characteristics make it challenging. They also make it lovely. Its beauty. What more need I say?

Well, I might mention its usefulness. Today my students will be making boxes that I can assure you will find a useful place in life.

And is there yet one more thing I might say about the character of wood? Yes indeed. Like human beings, wood is narrative. It tells its own story. The life of the tree is written in the grain, along with its strength and its loveliness. As we work with wood, using it to tell our own stories, we are blending in a larger world of creation.

And is there yet one more thing I might say about the character of wood? I can tell you about the diverse properties of various species. They are hard or soft. They are weak or strong (comparatively). Woods come in diverse colors and are suited to a wide variety of best uses. To enter the world of wood can be to fall into a wonderful entrapment in which one may discover love for the natural world.

Make, fix, create, and adjust education so that others learn lifewise.

Forrest Gander

A friend of mine, Forrest Gander, recently received the Pulitzer Prize in poetry. Forrest was the husband of C.D.Wright, award winning poet who had commissioned the first piece of furniture that I'd made that was to be accepted in the pages of Fine Woodworking Magazine. Forrest and C.D. had lived in a small house on Owen St. here in Eureka Springs before poetry led them on to bigger things.

Some write on paper, some write with wood, but collaboration makes us strong. A few years back when I was attending a conference in Rhode Island, I was grateful to sit with C.D. for tea at the table I had made.

Back in the fall of 1969, I was particularly distressed in my study at Hastings College, and decided to make an immediate adjustment to my graduation strategy. I took an independent study class in creative writing, and enrolled in a pottery class. The pottery class had the greater effect. The independent study was easy. I would show up once a week with something I'd written and that ended up with my publication of a series of poems  in the annual school literary publication with little meaning or effect, and a recommendation from my professor that I continue study toward an MFA in creative writing at the University of Arkansas. He offered to write letters of recommendation, but I was more deeply concerned with figuring what I was going to do to keep from being drafted for Viet Nam. I ended up in Arkansas anyway, but not at the U of A.

Later, while performing alternative service for the draft in Memphis, Tennessee, I attended a poetry reading event, and listened while young poets poured their hearts out. Poetry makes greater sense to me when there's an underlying experience upon which to build the narrative. But that's me, I guess. 

Still, there is a link between crafting with words and crafting with wood. A well crafted table for instance, may look as though it slid easily from a forest of trees, just as a well crafted poem might feel to slide easily from the tongue. And I've wondered about my friend Forrest, whether his name has made him feel more deeply connected to wood. I offer my sincere congratulations to Forrest Gander.

Make, fix, create, and assist others in building lives, likewise.

verisimilitude

For some time I've been trying to explain political reality from a manual arts perspective. There are a few folks I've referenced in previous blog posts that may help you to sort out and dig deep. One is Joe the Plumber. ( each of these can be found by using the search function of this blog, found at upper left) Another is Karl Popper whose concept "verisimilitude" can also be useful in digging deep. For facebook readers, you'll have to go to the blog, http://wisdomofhands.blogspot.com

What follows is a blog post from WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31, 2010

Narrative and reality

Jerome Bruner's article "The Narrative Construction of Reality" suggests that narrative plays an important role in how man "achieves a 'true' knowledge of the world... that is to say, how we get a reliable fix on the world, a world that is... assumed to be immutable and... 'there to be observed'." (we develop narratives and then chat in our own heads and with each other about them) But it should be noted that belief and reality often differ.

In my continuing interest to explain the narrative function of crafts, I want to address one minor point of comparison. In discursive narrative, verisimilitude, or what Stephen Colbert called "truthiness" is completely acceptable. In my interpretation of Bruner's article, discursive narrative may be based on real events or fictional, without diminishing our use of it to establish belief or to portray reality in shaping the beliefs of others. A great example is when Ronald Reagan used his movie characters' "experiences" as being valid in explaining and rationalizing positions he took in office as president.

In political narrative, it has become completely acceptable to just make stuff up. I want to compare this with craftwork as narrative expression. Crafts are not about making things up, but about making real things. Narrative, as used in politics, religion and entertainment creates belief based on verisimilitude, on ideas that may appear to resemble truth from certain psychological predispositions but may not be able to pass full muster of physical reality.

In other words, in discursive narrative, you get to make stuff up. In crafts, you make beautiful and useful stuff instead, and if you are interested in reality, there is no substitute for the real thing, and I'm not talking Coke.

There is an honesty in craft work that is missing in too much k-12 and university education, and the results can be disastrous for the entire society. The following is from Charles Henry Ham's book, Mind and Hand, 1886:

"It is thus that the trained hand comes at last to foresee, as it were, that a false proposition is surely destined to be exploded. The habit of rectitude gives it prescience. It invariably discovers, sooner or later, that a false proposition, when embodied in wood or iron, becomes a conspicuous abortion, involving in disgrace both the designer and the maker. A false proposition in the abstract may be rendered very alluring; a false proposition in the concrete is always hideous. One of the chief effects of manual training is, then, the discovery and development of truth; and truth, in its broadest signification, is merely another name for justice; and justice is the synonym of morality."

I find it interesting that Karl Popper, the philosopher who came up with the concept "verisimilitude" had an early career in a cabinet shop that he described as being his launch into the realm of philosophy.

Today in the woodshed, I'll be working on a table base.

Make, fix and create...

chapter 11

I learned in the past few days, when I got a royalty statement from F&W publication, and no check came in the following days that the company had filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the state of Delaware. When I started my first books, F&W Publications was a family owned enterprise. F stood for farm and W stood for writers, and the initial thrust of the business was to cater to those two areas of need: Publishing in support of small farms and writers. That was about a hundred years ago. The founding family members happily sold out to investors and the new CEO announced at a staff meeting that the business would be a perfect fit for him. He could run the business (after selling off assets) from his beach house in the Bahamas.

According to the bankruptcy narrative presented to the court, the company had made a few fatal mistakes. Over a period of years they'd made relentless efforts to get much bigger fast. Then the killer was to get deeply involved in e-commerce for which they were ill-prepared. Since they were one of the major publishers of niche craft related books, they thought they could expand their market by selling craft related products, taking the customer trust they had earned and leverage that into competition with other online retailers. That involved building an unreliable internet system that greatly disappointed customers, and renting warehouses to hold all the stuff they couldn't sell through an unworkable platform.

When the first non-family owners had severely botched business, the second round was Citi Bank, and then a descending spiral of big idea banker type folks all with the small minded idea of selling off non-essential assets so they could do more stuff unrelated to the founder's intent.

Of course, part of F&W's problems have been related to the rise of free unedited materials offered through the internet and youtube in particular. Why should anyone have to pay for anything other than their connection fee to Verizon or AT&T? I assert that there is still a place in the world for well-edited good books. It's easy to make cheap content, and to fill the internet with crap. It's more of a challenge to make good books. And there is a value to the latter. The shame in F&W's case is that they could have continued to make good books. Perhaps Chapter 11 Bankruptcy will allow them to return to the mission that gave them their start. There's a lesson here. When businesses wander far from their founder's intent, things have a way of "getting out of hand."

F&W gave me the chance to write my first three books. So they have a dear place in my heart and I wish them success. My first three books are now out of print but we did a more recent compilation of projects from my first two books. It is "25 Beautiful Boxes." You can find it on Amazon or can contact me directly for a signed copy.

Make, fix, create, and hope for the sake of human culture that all learn to learn likewise.

getting ready for school, making inlay.

Yesterday I spent some time in the wood shop at the Clear Spring School, rearranging lathes to make more room, and repairing work benches. In my home shop, I spent some time making inlay for boxes. I will continue both activities today.

One of the interesting things about wood is that it is a narrative form. You may have to know something about its character in order to "read" what it has to say. You must take time to be observant of natural processes and the character in the wood in order to understand the story that the wood tells. The wood's story is always a story about integration of the tree into its landscape, and the circumstances within which it grew up. Where there's a knot, there had been a branch. And while that may be boring to some, it is a story that resonates throughout life in the natural world.

There is a human affinity for working with wood. Like wood, we also tell stories about our landscape (human, cultural and natural), and the circumstances within which we grew up.

So I describe for my students a see-saw upon which the craftsman may be out on one end, asserting (and insisting upon) his mastery over the material, and with the wood at the other. The conscious maker decides whether the object being made is to tell one story or the other... that of conquering material in the creation of form, or one expressing a collaboration in which the story of the tree told through the wood is also conveyed.

I choose the latter approach. While making inlay may seem to be an exercise of craftsmanship, the purpose in this case is to simply convey an understanding of the beauty and diversity of wood.

Make, fix, create, and insist that others have the opportunity to learn likewise.

Oliver R. Kirby

Making a paper box.

A good friend of mine passed away in 2009, and I was reminded of him while in Annapolis as I had dinner with a former employee of the National Security Agency who was one of my students at the Annapolis Woodworking Guild Box Making Class. My new friend in Annapolis knew of Ollie Kirby and his time and position at the NSA.

Oliver R. Kirby had been in my thoughts of late due to a movie about Alan Turing who had built the first computer designed to break the Nazi's Enigma code during WWII. Kirby had been stationed at Bletchley Park in the UK along with Alan Turing, and while they did not work closely together, both shared important roles in breaking the German Codes. Ollie Kirby had time on his hands while he was in the UK during WWII, and because his wife Jeanne was in the States, he was lonely and volunteered for every possible assignment in an effort to end the war ASAP so he could get home. While others were using their time off  to explore the UK or hang out in bars, Ollie chose to keep very busy instead. He made himself essential to the war effort and that led to important work in national security after WWII.

We met Jeanne and Ollie Kirby when they vacationed regularly in Eureka Springs during the 1980's and early 1990's. We had dinner with them on several occasions and had them as guests in our home. Ollie and I shared a love of wood and woodworking, and one would never have guessed the important role that Ollie had played in WWII, as he was not one to brag on his top secret exploits, nor would he have been allowed to. Some of Kirby's personal narrative has been declassified so you can be read some of his story on line.

Ollie, besides being a cryptographic expert, was very different from Alan Turing whom he described as being remote. Ollie was kind, friendly, and loved wood. His wife Jeanne commissioned me to make a cabinet to fit Ollie's ties, of which he had a large collection, and I delivered it to their home in Greenville, Texas during the early 1990's.  I have always been amazed how a love of wood can push so many other barriers aside and open doors of friendship wide. Oliver R. Kirby was an inductee in the NSA Hall of Honor in 2008. When we visited Ollie and Jeanne in their home in Greenville, Texas, Ollie showed me his efforts to convert a log into lumber using a Haddon lumber maker.

I am home in Arkansas for classes at Clear Spring School. This morning the first and second grade students  made paper boxes using the designs published in Ednah Anne Rich's book, Paper Sloyd for the Primary Grades. I am always deeply intrigued by the interconnection of all things, and that a sincere interest in craftsmanship can lead to the development of connections even where one might not expect.

Susan Blow, in her book Symbolic Education, wrote the following about Froebel:

In the attempt to capture and hold the citadel of imagination, Froebel makes one of his most signal advances upon the theory and practice of his predecessors. Rousseau had nothing to say of imagination, save that it is the source of all human misery, and that its wings should be clipped as early and as close as possible. Pestalozzi ignores it––hence the dreary monotony of his sense-impressing exercises. He urges us to "Make the child see, hear, and touch many things," to "introduce order into his observations," and to "develop the elementary ideas of number and form in order that he may be able to compare objects and exercise his judgement upon them". But the necessity of a "spiritual questioning of sense and outward things seems to have occurred neither to him nor to the more recent advocates of the doctrine that all thought is transformed sensation. Hence their practice tends to arrest development at its starting point, and a faithful adherence to their suggestions would produce in the pupil a strong likeness to that Peter Bell on whom Wordsworth has conferred so inglorious an immortality.

One of the things that I hoped to convey in my presentation in Annapolis to the Annapolis Woodworking Guild is that the spirit of the child can be energized by craftsmanship without forcing the child to conform to any particular religion, or any particular set of religious principles, thus not violating the separation between church and state within the public school context. Craftsmanship can engage the child's spiritual nature in public education without promoting a particular religion. Froebel's kindergarten was intended as a means to enrich the spirit of the child, while it seems  modern education in both public and private schools does the exact opposite, constricting the child's inventiveness and creativity whether they intend to or not. The answer is to make things that reinforce the child's sense of connection with community, for the child's spirit rises in direct proportion to the growing sense of interconnection with all things.

Make, fix and create...

wrest and wry...

Readers will have noticed that I have a fascination with words, and the use of those words allows me to appear intellectual despite the number of hours I've spent isolated in the wood shop. It is surprising how many interesting words come from our use of our hands. Even though it appears that the academicians have the upper hand, the hands themselves are inescapable in that our language cannot remove itself completely from the physicality of our beings. The hands are the most instrumental part of human anatomy and thus take a sustaining role in all that human beings do and in how we think. George Lakoff has made a study of metaphor as a means of understanding our human perceptions, and it is absolutely true that without the hands supplying the metaphors, much of our literature would be diddly squat. That's why it's important to actually understand what a dovetail is, how it is used to join wood at cross grain and how it is formed in order to use the term dovetailed to its greatest effect.

Two other good hand words are wrest and wry and etymology online is my pal in the exploration of language and its interrelation with what we do.

I am not attempting to imply that to be a good writer, one must have done every possible thing in the book of human action, but simply that to have done real things brings greater depth to what is written and what is understood. In the case of fiction, to have done real things, rather than using second hand metaphors or third hand metaphorical frameworks, provides the tools necessary to bring your reader to a willing suspension of disbelief. In the case of non-fiction which is either based on having done real things, or upon thoroughly researching someone else having done real things, what one learns in the process of engaging deeply in real life, provides a necessary framework for both interpreting and sharing reality with readers.

The point I am trying to make here is that as long as we insist that schooling be the most important thing in children's lives, school should involve doing real things. The doing of real things is what provides the necessary framework for depth of understanding. So, if schooling is to be built upon a foundation of reading and writing, efficacy demands that the footings for the foundation be dug deep by doing real things.

I have a friend Bill, who retired from a career teaching philosophy at a major state institution. Bill was always the odd man out in the department due to the fact that he had supported himself throughout his education with jobs in construction and agriculture. Doing real things is the mine to which we must all return to dig narrative gold. It is the source of all metaphors, and to use them effectively, it is best that we wrest them from the soil through our own strength, that they be fresh and useful to us.

It is extremely odd that so much human effort would be directed toward releasing the hands from their labors, while the labors of the hands offer the greatest liberation, even for those who eschew labor.

Tim sent the following link to Comment Magazine, the work of our hands. Also, in that issue, you will find an interview with Matthew Crawford, author of Shop Class as Soulcraft and about his new book, the World Beyond Your head, Becoming an individual in the age of distraction. You will remember Crawford as the philosopher/motorcycle mechanic, who effectively connected the two.

Becoming an individual requires doing something upon which you can draw upon. Without being grounded in the work of the hands, things become wry, and much goes awry, as you can witness for yourself in this modern life.

It is snowing today in Arkansas. There is no better way to spend the day than in a warm wood shop, and there is no warmer image than the one above.

Make, fix and create...

the fear of useful transformation...

Norwegian author Jan Kjærstad wrote about the fearful power of fiction:

”We know hardly anything about our strength and possibilities. Sometimes I see man as a creature all folded up. We walk upright, but we have not managed to raise thought. Mentally speaking we are cripples …. I further imagine that books, fiction is just about the best tool for making us unfold …. And that is precisely why I am worried; why am I not hunting in a more determined way those books which will make me rise, which will make me grow a few centimeters? Because I no longer wish to be changed? I admit it: because I am afraid”.

How many books can you read that leave you essentially unchanged? There is a danger in this blog, in that if you do nothing from what is offered in it, you may feel in some ways impotent and diminished. If Mr. Kjærstad or others think that reading may lead to a fearful transformation, they might try making things for awhile instead. The change will offer less and even more to be afraid of. One might worry, "Am I to become a tradesman because of this?" Don't despair. Your first efforts will not bring your whole life to such a point of risk. You would have to actually get good at something first, and by that time you will have discovered that what you've done is something noble that makes you of greater real value to others, easing your transition into a more meaningful life.

As a writer in my small town, I am seldom thought of as a writer. Folks are surprised to learn that I've written books and I am never invited to participate in the situations that writers put themselves in to promote their work. It's because I write about how-to-do real stuff. I've thought of presenting the following at a local writer's night, if I were ever invited to present at such things.

The How-to of How-to (and a bit of why-to thrown in for good measure)

We all know that life in the 21st century is busy. There are so many choices of entertainment and distraction that it is hard to get any work done. And of course there's the Internet. It's a powerful tool that provides a sense that the whole world is right at our fingertips. But when we go off-line, the same drippy faucet is dripping its drip, the deck is in dire need of refinishing, and there are countless other things that need fixing or making or are just about to break. Gotta either hire a handyman or become one.

There are great writers that we all know and love who have the power to whisp us away through time and space, distracting us from our concerns, and placing our consciousness outside our own bodies, into the lives of fictional characters far removed from the real situations of our own lives. We welcome diversion from our own drippy faucets. Those are the writers who get the big bucks… the ones who entertain and distract. Their words carry us into feeling states from which we ultimately reawaken to lives unchanged.

How-to writers are a bit different. We write about small things that empower others to cope, to fix, and to make. We inspire readers to get up, put down their books and remotes, head for their basements, garages and backyard sheds with eyes, hands and imaginations directed toward improvement, change, betterment and growth.

How-to really has to do with the hands, and here are three very important things that I’ve noticed. The first is that the use of the hands makes us smarter. This is an idea proven by modern research as well as it being observed by scientists and educators as long as there have been science and education. You can even test it for yourself but (warning) it requires actually doing something tactile, and of real substance.

Secondly, the use of the hands makes us feel better. You all remember Cinderella, the wicked stepmother and ugly stepsisters, and you may recall in the Disney version, Cinderella sang joyously in the garden and kitchen as she served her unappreciative and demanding family. The simple untold story is that this is what happens when you are aligned through your hands with the creative and expressive bounty of the universe. Neurohormones triggered by engagement in creative activities bring forth a sense of joy. That joy is noticed by others. It may make them jealous, as was the case with the step-sisters. Or, it may make them suspicious you're on drugs.

You noticed that in the Disney version of the Cinderella story, there were magical things happening with fairy godmothers, pumpkins, mice and the like. We often use magical beings as a means through which to depict inexplicable phenomenon. The most important part of the Cinderella story is not something that is told in the story, but it's something you can discover for yourself, and I'm not just making this up. Check out Kelly Lambert's theory of "effort driven rewards," and you will find that joy arises from the simple tasks we might be twisted toward believing are beneath our dignity or beneath our intelligence... While the stepmother and stepsisters were poisoned by self-importance, and crippled by the evil clenched tightly within their idle hands, Cinderella worked opennly with her hands and expressed joy within herself and to those around her.

Here in Eureka Springs we live in a community of artists and craftsmen, and each and every one will tell you that they feel better when they are engaged in their work. But you won’t have to take their word for it. This is something you can test for yourself in the garden or in the kitchen, without loading up on new tools, and without even having a wood shop.

Third, working with your hands puts you in touch with the vast expanse of history and human culture. Can you imagine what a visitor to a museum would think if they had never had a chance to make anything? Would they look at the real Mona Lisa and marvel at brush strokes made by Da Vinci's human hand? If they’ve never held a brush, have only engaged the world through a mouse and keyboard, will they have the power in their own souls to connect with the vast human legacy that only clicks-in when there is texture, the warmth of the human touch, and a sense of one’s own power to create?

How-to writers carry a great deal of power in our own hands. We, more than most, know the small wonders of our own creativity. We, more than most know the forces and means inherent in the human soul to improve the reality of the day to day and the here and now. So, I want to point out the value of who we are and what we really do. We empower. In the face of a consumer culture with the masses driven to consume we inform and instruct: how-to, why-to, encouraging others to build and make better. Perhaps some of us may feel compelled by the unrelenting lure of fantasy to write the great novel instead, but perhaps we should remember there is no more important calling for today’s age than that of the how-to writer.

So, how to get started?

Being a how-to writer is very much like being any other kind of writer except for two very important things. First is that you have to have some level of non-literary skill and direct experience in what you are writing about. You don’t have to be the very best in the world at something, but you do need to know the processes well enough to explain things clearly. Unlike the fiction writer who just makes stuff up to challenge your readers' willing suspension of disbelief, what you write will be tested in the hands of those who follow your instructions step-by step.

Secondly, The how-to author is required to be completely honest. Other writers, of both fiction and non-fiction have the pleasure of making stuff up or distorting information to twist the readers opinions to their own perspective. But the lying how-to author gets himself and his or her readers in a peck of trouble and won’t last long in the market place.

The first thing the prospective how-to writer must do is begin watching and taking note of his or her own life. Every good writer uses personal experience to frame what he or she wants to share with others. This is like having an editor, except the editor is in your own head. And the editor will begin asking questions. Is this interesting? What story does it tell? And a good internal editor leads you into exploring more and more options in the ways through which things can be done.

I had an important realization that everything I do is narrative. In my case, I use a chisel to cut wood. The wood records the motions of the hand and arm, the shape and size of the chisel, the quality of its cutting edge and the amount of force applied. Once you come to the awareness that you, in everything you do, use a variety of tools and materials to tell the story your own life, then you find that it is easy to transition from narration in wood or whatever other material you've chosen, to documenting your work in photographs or video, and in written word.

Adding your own editorial component, you then ask, “Is what I do of compelling interest?” If you come up with the answer, “No.” Then it is time to make adjustments in what you make or even in how you live your life. In the selection of what to write about, ask, "Is there anything particularly interesting about this process." If the answer is yes, then gather the materials and tools and begin work.

Sometimes I’ll clear a project first with an editor from one of the magazines I work with before I begin. I take photos of each and every step, and for me, the photography is crucial for keeping my narrative in order and reminding me of each step as I am writing so that nothing is overlooked. I use a digital camera on a tripod and use the self-timer to control the shutter. For very best lighting, I have the studio well lit with daylight fluorescent bulbs, so that wherever I am shooting, I don’t have to bother setting up lights or use the harsh glare of flash.

When the project is finished, I’m left with the finished object and take beauty shots of it that can be used either for the first page of the chapter, or the opening page of an article. Then I go through my photos and put them in step-by-step order, selecting the ones that best illustrate the processes used. When I’ve finished organizing the photos I write the main text and photo captions, and create a materials list and scrap art that will give the illustrator all the necessary information required to do drawings.

So how to get really started? Where can you test and develop your how-to writing skills? Fortunately these days, you don’t have to be discovered by a national magazine. There are on-line newsgroups and forums where you can share your tips and processes and practice your writing skills.

Even if you are a fiction writer, getting grounded in the making of real stuff, can make sense. Just think of the Cinderella Story told above. Another Scandinavian writer, Vilhelm Moberg, had begun reading by stripping the layers of newspaper from his walls to follow a serial once printed and buried there. Following years of successful writing, he drowned himself in his backyard lake during a period of writer's block and depression. Had he just a knife and some encouragement to whittle, he might have lasted to better days. Instead, he wrote a note indicating the time of day, and telling his wife he could no longer cope.

Make, fix and create...

tree cookies...

This is the first week of school at Clear Spring School. The kids are returning for goal setting conferences today and tomorrow, and will begin classes on Wednesday. Tomorrow we move the benches and large equipment into the new Clear Spring School wood shop (its temporary location). All the students and parents are excited that the wood shop will be at the exact center of the school campus, and I am excited about the extra collaboration my new location will offer.

Our first project in the upper elementary/middle school will be to make what one teacher called "tree cookies." By counting along the rings on a piece of wood, you can create an outline of your own life, noting important years, seasons and events.

I tried making large cookies from old walnut, but found that the wood was so old and had been so slow growing that it was hard to count the tiny rings and there were far too many of them to be relevant to the students' own story lines without delving deep into the history of their town.

So I cut into a piece of hackberry that was cut last winter, and found that it has enough annual rings to go back to the birth of each student. To make cuts like this on the bandsaw takes great care, a tight grip and a sled to hold the round stock square through the cut. The tendency is for the round stock to twist, jamming the blade and ruining it. The sled gives a surface against which the round stock can be tightly gripped.

Wood and human beings are both narrative forms. While we tell our stories in the form of words, either written or spoken, trees record their growth in the form of annual rings. Where there's a knot, there had been a branch, and if there had been a drought or season of wet weather, the rings of the tree remember and can be read, just as one might read a book. Our upper elementary school teacher plans to use the tree cookies to get the children to outline their own lives and the important events that took place within them and then to use that outline as the basis for autobiography.

Make, fix and create...

Talking stick

Pima Indian calendar or "talking" stick.

I am in Phoenix for my sister's memorial and staying next door to the Indian casino Talking Stick. I am reminded that there are two uses for a "talking stick." One is that a stick can be held and passed from one person to another granting the right to speak at a gathering. The other use is that a stick can be carved as a narrative object, with symbols recording a story or calendar of events. Inside the small museum space dedicated to Indian art, a talking stick of more recent making and of the latter form is on exhibit. I am also working on a short op-ed piece for our local paper, attempting to put part of our recent AEP/SWEPCO hearing into perspective. This bit of text is as follows:

Here’s the plan…

Lanny Nickel’s testimony in the Little Rock Arkansas Public Service Commission (APSC) hearing on August 29, told that Southwest Power Pool (SPP) wants a huge Extra High Voltage (EHV) 345kV system to surround Northwest Arkansas, and just as reported months ago by members of Save the Ozarks, the Shipes Road to Kings River power line is part of that with additional parts to come up for APSC approval later. According to Nickel, SPP wants a robust system for "reliability". The extra transmission capacity for them is just an unstated bonus that will give huge profits. They prefer not to talk about that. .

In response to Save the Ozarks expert witness Dr. Hyde Merrill’s testimony, Nickel confirmed that the rationale proposed in the Notice to Construct issued by Southwest Power Pool is no longer a concern that would justify the project. But still SWEPCO and SPP have come up with additional reasons for the project, despite their old reason no longer holding water. Nickel and SPP attorney Kaplan showed those reasons on a big map, illustrated in airbrushed red colors (very professionally done and so convincing to the Judge that she asked to keep it). That map showed areas of concern along the route east toward Harrison on the Entergy side of the seam between suppliers. Melinda Montgomery of Entergy, testifying earlier for SWEPCO insisted that there were and are no reliability concerns or problems on the Entergy side of the seam, but in all fairness, she did acknowledge that having such a robust line in the neighborhood would provide extra reliability that was not really necessary. If the hearing in Little Rock was indeed an evidentiary proceeding, and not simply a dog and pony show for the kids, someone will have to examine the conflicting evidence offered by SWEPCO.

If the Notice to Construct is the basis for the application and the reason is no longer valid, the application is false or in error and should be dismissed. If AEP/SWEPCO has new reasons, then let them apply again. When SWEPCO's own witnesses dispute part of the new grounds presented by AEP/SWEPCO and Southwest Power Pool, and much of the information necessary to even evaluate the truth of Nickel’s testimony is kept from Save the Ozarks by SWEPCO and SPP’s refusals to respond to data requests, all parties, including the commission are kept in the dark. As long as we are purposefully kept in the dark, we have every reason in the world to distrust whatever conclusion the judge and commission arrive at that is not full and complete dismissal of the application.

Can folks see why all of us have been kept off balance by the process through which AEP/SWEPCO is attempting to claim eminent domain and destroy our properties, and damage the environment upon which the success of our tourist economy depends? AEP/SWEPCO and the Southwest Power Pool came at us with very big plans to build a huge transmission system hauling wholesale power throughout Northwest Arkansas, and beyond, claiming it was for our own reliability....our own good. They do this by putting forward one small step at a time, hoping we don't notice the full ugly effect, a process the US Army Corp of Engineers calls "piecemealing". If we don't stop the Ships Road to Kings River power line proposal, there will be more and more of these ugly projects all across North Arkansas and up through Missouri. Distributed power generation promises to save us from the ugly grid.

Go Solar and Save the Ozarks.

About the talking stick as shown above:

In the absence of a formal written language, the O´odham of southern Arizona relied on oral tradition for memorializing significant events. The Oos:hikbina—translated from O´odham as “stick cuts upon”—was one way the Akimel O´odham (River People) annotated oral history. The other manner of revitalizing human memory is through songs. Most often, an Oos:hikbina was made by trimming a dry saguaro cactus rib flat on one or two sides to enable the recorder and keeper of the Oos:hikbina to etch dots, small notches, V-shaped cuts, and deep straight lines across the stick representing years. The symbols were often painted with natural pigments of blue soot and red clay. This Oos:hikbina, kept by Mr. Joseph Head and acquired by the collector Edward H. Davis in 1921, records events beginning in 1833. The Gila River Indian Community, the keeper’s homeland, was established by executive order in 1859. Several battles in which the Akimel O´odham and Piipaash (Maricopa) joined forces against enemy tribes are recorded. Natural phenomena and European influence—including the coming of the railroads in 1878 and 1886—are revealed with etched symbolism. The Oos:hikbina does not record every event that affected the lives of the Akimel O´odham and Piipaash, but it does provide insight into the inevitable progression of new beginnings.

—Barnaby Lewis (Akimel O´odham) Traditional singer, knowledge-keeper, and cultural preservation officer, Gila River

Make, fix and create...

made in USA...

The April 22, 2013 cover story in Time Magazine, How Made in the USA is Making a Comeback, describes the resurgence of American manufacturing, once again centered on the introduction of new  technologies. This time the 3-D printer is at the center of things, making complex parts that cannot be made or quickly modified using previous casting techniques.

"Climbing out of the recession, the U.S. has seen its manufacturing growth outpace that of other advanced nations, with some 500,000 jobs created in the past three years. It marks the first time in more than a decade that the number of factory jobs has gone up instead of down. From ExOne’s 3-D manufacturing plant near Pittsburgh to Dow Chemical’s expanding ethylene and propylene production in Louisiana and Texas, which could create 35,000 jobs, American workers are busy making things that customers around the world want to buy — and defying the narrative of the nation’s supposedly inevitable manufacturing decline."

On the Fine Woodworking Website, an article suggests, The Future of Woodworking is Looking Good. This article shows a few things made by kids and suggests that others send in photos of what their children have done with wood. We have hopes that a national movement will emerge, and that all our children will grow in character, intellect and moral purpose as a result. In any case, we would benefit as a nation to once again think of ourselves as smart makers of beautiful things.

So what can you do? We know that what we do is more important than what we know, so it is not enough to simply read Time Magazine each month and keep up on trends. If you do woodworking with your kids, share photos of what they've made with the Fine Woodworking site, and join in the discussion of why it is important to engage your children in making beautiful and useful things.


On the same subject, this month's Wooden Boat Magazine, the regular insert supplement, Getting Started in Boats, tells how 6 people got their starts in boats. I wish other magazines, including Fine Woodworking, could take as aggressive an interest in engaging new generations in hands-on learning as does Wooden Boat. About 5 years ago I had asked Fine Woodworking to do a regular magazine supplement engaging new learners in woodworking as a way to build readership, engagement in woodworking and to extend love of woodworking into new generations. They chose not to because they were unable to find advertisers for it. Wooden Boat on the other hand, offers the supplement, "Getting Started in Boats," with no outside sponsors, simply because the job of building a new generation of wooden boat enthusiasts just needed to get done.

Each and every issue of Wooden Boat unabashedly supports greater engagement in hands-on learning in its practical, intellectual and moral dimensions. In fact, they offer so many examples of how parents and communities can use boats to get kids involved in learning hands-on that I often overlook special programs like the 6 hour canoe program shown in the photo above until later in the month. In this wonderful program, kids build wooden canoes in 6 hours. Then those canoes become the foundation for environmental education as kids then use the boats in exploring their river, the Navesink.

Another program mentioned in the same issue is the Bayfront Maritime Center in Erie, PA. They say,

"The focus at BMC is to empower kids with a positive sense of future and a personal toolbox full of skills, like critical think, effective communication, teamwork, and perseverance, that they need to successfully navigate through the rough passages most of them will face on a daily basis. We are not trying to crank out boatbuilders, or yachtsmen and yachtswomen. We use boatbuilding, sailing, rowing and paddling, and navigation, to teach the practical application of science, technology, engineering, and math, in nontraditional classrooms. It works because these are the things the staff here are passionate about. That passion cannot be faked; it's real, and the kids sense that."

If each and every woodworking publication were to take such an assertive role in promoting hands-on learning, we would have woodworking education returning to schools in no time. And often, doing the right thing pays off in the long run. The ever growing collection, "Getting Started in Boats" has become a valuable product for the publishers of Wooden Boat Magazine.

Tonight is the Clear Spring School Spring Fling, our annual fund raising art and services auction that raises money to help the school meet expenses at the end of the school year. It is a fun event, with excellent food, and the opportunity to purchase works created by local artists. As you may know, Eureka Springs is one of our nation's premier arts destinations, so many of our local artists are nationally known.

The Annual Clear Spring Fling Auction hosted by Clear Spring School (PrePrimary-12) is to be held at the Keels Creek Winery (behind the tasting room and art gallery on Saturday, April 20, 2013 starting at 5:30 PM.

Make, fix and create...

where there's a knot...

Where there's a knot, there had been a limb, and a single item of the many that connect us soul to soul with wood is that we and the trees are narrative forms. Just as we tell our stories to each other, the life of the tree is told in wood. Some craftsmen love knots and incorporate them in their work, others avoid them at all costs. Some craftsmen strive for perfection, others find themselves more willing to give voice to the essential qualities of wood, knots and all. Regardless of where one may fall along that line, there are lessons to learn about life from a hands-on examination of real wood.

In 7th, 8th and 9th grades at CSS, we are attempting to give voice to the wood to better understand ourselves, our community and our places within. We are starting a project in which our own histories and the life of our nation will be told through marking a timeline on wood. The two slices of stump shown are from the city cemetery (a giant yellow pine) and from the tulip poplar which presided over our Carnegie Public Library.

This can make a great history lesson for kids, connecting them to the lives of community and forest, and to the growth of our trees. It is something easily done in your own school and community.Check with your local arborist or tree service for a suitable stump.

We will use nails to mark the years and to locate specific events. On the stump in front of the Carnegie Public Library we will do the same thing, but by attaching numbered tags and by providing a printed key that library patrons can use to explore their own relationship to our wonderful lost tree.

I have not as yet determined the exact ages of these trees, but both were cut last week, August 2012, and are over 80 years old. A count of the rings will tell the exact story.

If you would like to get a sense of the school where I teach, watch the following:



Make,fix and create...

a tree falls...

Photo taken at library centennial shows slight lean that had gotten worse

The tulip poplar in front of the Eureka Springs Library was cut this morning and the logs hauled to public works where I'm arranging to have them milled and the lumber distributed to artists.

Trees and human beings are both engaged in narrative processes. We humans are constantly telling our tales. With trees, where there is a knot, there had been a branch, and each year of a tree's life is dutifully recorded to be read by those human beings who might be interested in knowing something about the world in which their own stories take place.

This great tree will be missed, but all are consoled by the great notion that works of useful beauty will emerge from its loss.

Make, fix and create...